As many of you know, Teri Mills and the National Nurse Team have been working with nursing leaders in Congress for a bill. Representative Lois Capps (D-CA) has taken the lead and her staff spoke with us a few weeks ago, stating that the bill was headed to Legislative Counsel. We are asking Congress to create an Office of the National Nurse to focus on providing all Americans with preventive health care resources.

To read exactly what this proposal is about, please go to our website
www.nationalnurse.blogspot.com

Each of us can make a difference to help move the bill for a National Nurse forward. Please email Representative Capps’ office at jeremy.sharp@mail.house.gov or if you prefer, call Rose Gonzales, the Government Relations Specialist at the American Nurses Association (301-628-5000).

Simply tell Representative Capps and Rose Gonzales you support an Office of the National Nurse because it will: (use one statement from
below or you can also use your own words which is even better)

1. Focus Americans on preventive health practices.

2. Focus on reducing health care costs through prevention and education.

3. Complement government services already in place; help prioritize and deliver the health agenda to the nation.

4. Provide a trusted unified source for people to consult first when considering options for addressing their wellness needs.

5. Involve entire communities because nurses in the community they live in will provide services.

6. Continue the collaborative work nurses do with physicians and other health care providers in individual settings on a community and national level.

7. Develop National Nurse teams to serve as prepared volunteer groups in emergency situations.

8. Demonstrate the value of education as an important intervention to help decrease health care costs.

9. Focus national attention on the value of nursing; inspire entry into nursing careers, and enhance the value of practicing nurses.

10. Attract nurses to become educators by demonstrating teaching in action.


I would appreciate hearing the result of your call and/or email. You can reach me at teri@nationalnurse.info PLEASE sign up for our newsletter
to follow the progress of the National Nurse Team. Please forward this email to every nurse that you know.

Florence Nightingale declared, “I think one’s feelings waste themselves in words; they ought all to be distilled into actions which bring results.”

Your voice may make the difference in pulling the bill out of Legislative Counsel.

Thanks for your support.

Teri Mills
National Nurse Campaign Coordinator

I believe we need a national nurse, because nursing better represents the domestic needs of the people of the United States. The Surgeon General's office, even in name, is an office springing from a wartime mind set. Although we are at war (or something closely resembling it), our domestic needs are not for a wartime surgeon. In fact, the Surgeon General's office has been concerned with domestic policy for ages.

But it's health maintenance, not the trauma center, that are at the center of silent crises in this country.

Children are getting fat and idle -- not the young colts of prior generations, but tired, stressed, sickly children that will be a burden to themselves and the health care system.

Air quality, while under the control of the EPA, is likely causing childhood asthma in so many of these weakened youngsters.

Diet is at the root of a pandemic in youth and adults, likely responsible for a significant slice of chronic ailments.

Exercise habits are ceasing to be conditioned into children whose schools are cutting teaching positions and instruction time including PE and sports activities.

Stress management and anger management could improve the lives of Americans of all ages.

Simple monitoring of vital signs could stave off many health crises. Likewise, education in issues such as the recognition of the signs of heart attack, melanoma, and many other conditions could save lives and load on the medical system.

"Sustainability" is a word that we hear a lot these days. We need to make the health of American sustainable, to maintain, literally, our quality of life through hard times.

I encourage all people in DC to support the office of the National Nurse.